Head mounted display (HMD) devices, also known as helmet mounted display devices or video eyewear devices, are display devices worn on the head of a viewer. The HMD is a display device that has small optic displays that are positioned in front of one eye of the viewer (monocular HMD) or each eye of the viewer (binocular HMD). Other HMDs have one relatively large optic display positioned over both of the viewer's eyes. Some HMD optic displays may be configured to present three dimensional (3-D) images.
Some HMDs include head position and head geometric orientation detection systems that are configured to detect movement of the viewer's head. Changes in the position and/or geometric orientation of the viewer's head are sensed by a plurality of accelerometers and/or gyroscopes mounted on, or fabricated into, the HMD. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices may be used to provide relatively small yet accurate accelerometers and gyroscopes that are mounted to or mounted within the HMD.
With some types of media content, a relatively large potential viewing field may be provided to the HMD. The relatively large viewing field is much larger than the available size of the viewing area provided by the HMD optic displays. Based on an identified viewpoint location, a portion of the relatively large viewing field is selected for presentation on the HMD optic display. An exemplary media content stream with a relatively large potential viewing field may be streamed to the HMD under a multi-view coding format.
As the viewer moves their head, the accelerometers and gyroscopes sense the movement of the viewer's head. An onboard processing system then determines the geometric orientation and/or position of the viewer's head based upon the detected movement of the viewer's head. A change in the viewpoint location is then determined based on the detected movement. The field of view of the presented images by the HMD is then varied based upon the determined change of the viewpoint location.
However, such viewing experiences are limited to a single viewer. Accordingly, there is a need in the arts to enable multiple viewers to share an experience while viewing a single presented media content event.